



SF 487 
.W8 
Copy 1 



400 Hen 




PRICE $1.00 






1 



IF a man can write a 
* better book, preach a 
better sermon, or make a 
better mousetrap than his 
neighbor, though he builds 
his house in the woods 
the world will make a 
beaten path to his door. 

— Ralph Waldo Emerson. 



$100 HEN 



HOW TO GET HER 



-BY- 




DR. WALLACE V. WOLVIN 



Engraving by 
McDermid Engraving Co. 



Printing by 
Farm & Orchard Pub. Co 



SPOKANE, WASHINGTON 



COPYRIGHTED JANUARY,. 1912 



.<' 






CONTENTS 



Twenty- four cuts of the most popular breeds. 

It tells how to erect the best poultry house in use; gives cuts, 
die number of feet of material, cost, etc., etc. 

It tells you how to test your eggs so they will hatch, and 
gives cuts showing different stages of fertility. 

It tells you the effect of altitude on the hen and egg. 

It tells you why your eggs do not hatch and the cause of 
chicks dying in the shell. 

It gives you prescriptions and receipts for lice, mite powders 
and Equids. 

It gives you formulas for whitewash as good as most paints 

It gives you the great egg-laying formulas. 

It gives numerous prescriptions for all kinds of mashes and 
dock food. 

It gives formulas for spraying and disinfecting. 

It gives many useful, and valuable hints on general poultry 
keeping and advice of forty years' experience. 



$;.^> 



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PRINCESS SPOKANE 
Black Orpington-— The Author's Pet 




THE A SHAPE HOUSE 



THE POULT Y HOUSE 



After examining various poultry houses and plants through- 
out the United States; considering statistics and numerous 
plans from other countries, I have come to the conclusion 
that the open front A-shape house designed .and in use by 
John Pfeffer and Sons of Hillyard, Washington, is' the cheap- 
est, most convenient and most sanitary for all purpose poultry 
house in use at the present time. 

By the courtesy of Mr. Pfeffer the following dimensions 
are given: 

230 lineal feet 2x4 for sills and ends; 3 pieces 2x4-14 feet 
long for roosts; 22 pieces' 2x4-12 feet long for rafters; 850 feet 
number 3 common boards for end and roof;; 8 rolls of one- 
ply roofing; 24 feet of wire netting four feet wide for front; 
10 lbs. of 20-penny nails, and a few wire staples. 

Total cost of material, $27.00. 

This makes a house 16x30 and will accommodate 50 to 100 
fowls. The floor should be raised about six inches with good 
clean sand such as is" used for plastering. 

These houses can be made any size desired, but this size 
is the most suitable for general purposes. 

The above with small queen stove enclosed by screen 
makes an ideal house in which to raise early chicks. 



5 

CARE OF LITTE CHICKS 



Do not put large number of chicks together in one com : 
partment, as they form too great a weight when they get 
together to go to sleep. 

The weaker ones among them are bound to be smothered 
and crushed. 

Also, so many chicks in one bunch cause a great deal of 
animal heat during the night, which together with the heat 
of the brooder makes a sort of hot house plant of the chicks 
that have to live under such conditions'. 

In the morning when they come out for their feed they 
are hot and "steamy" and the moment outside air strikes 
them they suffer a chill, and that means sickly chicks, and 
as a consequence, number of dead ones. 

.. Don't make the mistake so many others have made, before 
they learned that the best way to raise chicks after they were 
hatched is to put them in smaller bunches' — fifty to seventy- 
five chicks each. 

Use more small brooders. The extra number of chicks 
saved and raised, more than pays for the extra expense and 
trouble of the additional brooders. 

Also remember that two very essential things to baby 
chicks are sunshine and exercise. Also see that the brooder 
and coops are kept perfectly clean. Lice and mites will thrive 
in filthy quarters. Bowel trouble is about the first indication 
of a sick chick, and it is brought on by several causes, such 
as filthy quarters, lice, mites, crowding, over-heating, chilling. 
The kind of food also comes in for its share of the trouble. 

The proper thing to do is to care for them so that they will 
not get sick. 

Sometimes when it is noted that chicks have bowel trouble 
on account of feed or water, they may be helped by taking 
a half teaspoonful of carbolic acid arid putting it in a quart of 
water, stirring it up well, and giving to them to drink. While 
this is a poison it is also a germicide and the chicks drink so 
little of it at a time that you need have no fear to give it to 
them, 

FEEDING 

A little chick needs no food until it is 36 or 50 hours old. 



6 

The yolk of the egg serves as food for the chick just after it 
is hatched. This yolk is absorbed by the chick during the 
last days of its incubation and serves for its food for the first 
36 to 50 hours. The best consideration that you can show a 
little chick for the first few hours of its life is to keep it 
quiet and warm. 

One of the first things a newly hatched chick needs is 
pure water and some fine sand. After it is forty-eight hours 
old it may be fed some dry feed; (never feed sloppy food) 
the food that gives the best results is some kind of dry bal- 
anced food which contains a variety of grains, seeds and meat. 
A good food is made by mixing the following ingredients in 
the proportions stated: Cracked wheat, 5 parts; steel-cut 
oats, 1 part; millet seed, 3 parts; granulated meat meal, not 
fertilizer refuse, 1 part; ground oyster shells, 2 parts. 

Pay particular attention to the feeding and watering. 

The best results will be had if you feed and water the 
chicks often and give them a little at a time. From four to 
six times a day is about right. 

MAKE 'EM SCRATCH 

Scatter the food in a litter of some kind and keep the little 
chicks busy. Feed little at a time, but often, but be very 
careful not to overfeed. It is a good plan to keep them a little 
hungry. This will force them to exercise in hunting for the 
grain in the litter. 

Scald out the drinking fountain at least once a week — and 
if the water you have to give the chicks is not pure — boil it 
before you give it to them. 

Don't leave the drinking water before them all day and 
night. 

Let them drink until they quit drinking, then remove the 
drinking fountain. 
DO YOUR HENS LAY? WHY NOT? 

There are three things essential to make hens lay. Supply 
those and you will have the eggs you wish. 

1st. — Hens must have a warm house and be kept out of the 
cold north winds in the winter. By warm houses we do not 
mean that it is necessary to have them heated, plastered or 
cemented, as a single boarded house covered with tarred felt 
is good enough if you will protect the north and west sides 



7 

with litter or straw in the winter, and make the birds a place 
to get out of the wind. A scratching shed is a good thing. 

2nd. — Exercise is essential. Throw the dry feed you give 
them into straw and let them dig for it and keep them digging 
all day. Give a mash at night made of alfalfa meal, brown 
shorts and fine corn meal. Give one quart of meat scraps to 
ten fowls every other day and always have good fresh water 
before them all the time and you will have eggs. It has been 




WHITE ORPINGTON COCK 



clearly proven by experiments that corn should not form the 
greater proportion of the grain ration for laying hens. It is 
too fattening, especially for hens kept in close confinement 
Until the past few years corn has been considered the uni- 
versal poultry food of America, which undoubtedly was due to 
the cheapness of that - cereal. Now we find farmers and 
fanciers feeding more liberal rations of wheat, barley, oats, 
buckwheat and caffir corn, which has wonderfully increased 
the egg production, even beyond their most sanguine expecta- 
tions. 





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14 
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9 

TESTING FOR INFERTILE EGGS 



On the seventh or eighth day after you have "set" the eggs 
in the incubator or under the hen, you may test them, so as to 
find and remove from the tray, all eggs not fertile, that is, 
eggs that will not hatch. 

To do this take a piece of blue cardboard and bend it into 
a cylinder and tie it with a piece of wire. Run the wire or 
cord through in such a way that it will remain in the form of a 
cylinder. Then set it over the lamp, with the hole in the 
cylinder directly in front of th eisinglass in the lamp flue. 

Or the paper cylinder may be put over any other lamp. 
In fact any lamp will do. Then darken the room and take out 
the egg tray and pass each egg before the tester, holding the 
large end of the egg up to the hole in the tester. If the egg 
is fertile you will see the germ as it has started to develop 
the chick. 

You will notice a dark spot in the egg with little spider- 
like legs radiating from it. And the stronger this appears 
the stronger will be the chick. In thin, white-shelled eggs 
you can see that these are blood vessels which have just 
formed. 

The accompanying cut marked "A" will give you an idea 
of the way the egg will appear to you when you test it as 
above indicated — about the eighth day. 

Cut "B" is an indication of what a weak germ in an egg 
will look like as you test it. 

Cut "C" indicates the condition of an egg that has become 
stale and will not hatch. In testing on the 8th day, all fertile 
eggs will be shown to be nearly full of a dark mass and many 
blood vessels will appear to be. darker than the surrounding 

parts. Also on the 8th day the infertile eggs will appear near- 
ly transparent, that is, clear — or having but a small dark spot. 
If in testing to see that some eggs have a considerable 
portion of their contents dark, and yet not dark enough and 
full enough to convince you that they are as strong and as 
far developed as the eggs which do show — you can mark these 
with a "D" for doubtful and leave them in to be tested again 
later on — say about the 14th day. 



10 

As soon as you are certain that an egg is infertile throw it 
out. Such eggs in the incubator are harmful to the good ones. 

Also the bulb of the thermometer should always rest on a 
fertile egg — and you don't want the thermometer to be affect- 
ed by anything but the heat of the good eggs. 

Along toward the latter part of the hatch you may notice 
that the temperature in the egg chamber will be inclined to 
run up, even with the lamp burning lower than usual and the 
room temperature the same. 




WHITE ORPINGTON HEN 

This is because the chicks in the eggs — being living things 
— are giving off considerable heat, and it will be well during 
the last week of the hatch to acquaint yourself with about 
liow this animal heat affects the operation of the incubator. 
In testing the eggs for fertility, it will be well for you to leave 
all doubtful eggs in the incubator. 



II 



EFFECTS OF ALTITUDE ON HENS AND THE 
FERTILITY OF EGGS. 

Eggs are not as fertile in a high, dry altitude as in a low 
moist altitude and do not hatch as 1 well. 

Much care should be exercised in such a climate to give 
the eggs the proper moisture. 

In such cases the chicks adhere to the shell and do not 
develop and absorb the yolk at the proper time. 

Firstly: — This is due to lack of moisture and weakness of 
the chick, the latter of which is 1 brought about by various 
causes, i. e., by weak stock, lack of proper food and nutrition 
to develop the germ. 

Secondly: — The hen or cock may be of a nervous disposi- 
tion which lessens the vitality of the germ. In such cases the 
fowls should be treated kindly and be kept in a quiet and 
happy mood. 

Hens that the cock bird do not mate with properly should 
be removed to other pens, as all cock birds have their favor- 
ites among the flock and some of the hens may be sterile on 
that account. 

Close observation will acquaint one with the above condi- 
tions and make the hatch of higher percentage if given proper 
attention. 

Eggs that are set under a hen should be sprinkled with 
warm water at various times and especially the 19th day. 

Eggs hatch better that are set on the ground in a warm 
dry place. The earth, no matter how dry, will provide moist- 
ure and its elements promote the development of the chicks. 

In incubating we have to rely on artificial conditions and 
more care should be taken to produce as nearly natural condi- 
tions as possible. 



/% 





ROSE COMB 



PEA COMB 



SINGLE COMB 



12 

THE SELECTION OF EGGS FOR HATCHING 

Always select smooth symetrical eggs. 
Never set a rough, ill-shaped or inferior sized egg. 
According to the best authorities the smooth, oval egg will 
produce the majority in pullets. 

The longer, peaked end eggs will produce mostly cockrels. 



SOMETHING ABOUT HATCHING 

I have been asked several times which is best, the incu- 
bator or the hen? If an inexperienced person wants to put 
his money in a sack full of holes, just buy a 400 or 500 egg 
size incubator. Of course an incubator man wants' to sell 
incubators and some of them would say almost anything to 
get you to buy. Some would tell you that you could set an 
incubator in a woodshed full of cracks and holes and still have 
a good hatch. But you will never believe such a thing. Once 
a man came to me and wanted to sell me a 300-egg incubator 
and he told me that I could set it, and go away three weeks 
and then come home and have three hunddred chicks. It 
would be the same thing as a man who came from the old 
country with $1000 and another man told him to bury it in a 
certain place in the orchard and if he would get it the next 
morning there would be $2000 instead; but next morning when 
he went to get his $2000 it was gone, so it would be the same 
with a large size incubator. 

If an inexperienced person wants to start with an incu- 
bator, better get 50 or 100-egg size, then you can learn before 
getting the large size, but don't put it in .a woodshed full of 
cracks and holes, it takes a very even temperatured room. 
However, the best incubator is the mother hens, they are 
preferable as you can depend on them that they will bring a 
good hatch. You go to a drug store and get the bubach 
powder and this will kill every little louse on your hens. A 
hen when setting and free from lice has a red comb, just the 
same as when she is laying, but if the comb gets black or pale, 
look out for lice. 

When you get your eggs, let them rest from two or three 
days. Then put them under a good, tried and true hen that 
has been dusted well with bubach powder or pyrethrium 



13 

powder to prevent lice. Set her on a nest on the ground, if 
possible, and away from all other fowls so she cannot be 
disturbed. 

Give her water in a basin or wide vessel so she can get 
water on her wings with which to sprinkle the eggs. 

Don't waste time hatching eggs from stock lacking in con- 
stitutional vigor. Breed for health, it pays. 

CHICK FOOD AND BALANCED RATION MASHES 

Below are given two formulas that are hard to beat and no 
poultryman, if he is in the business for profit, can well do 



BUFF ORPINGTON 

without them. For a chick food take the following: 

30 parts wheat, 20 parts millet, 20 parts corn, 10 parts 
barley, 5 parts steel-cut oats, 5 parts granulated meat meal, 
5 parts granulated bone, 5 parts pearl grit. 

Crack the wheat, corn and barley at any mill, the others 
are already prepared. Mix well and feed dry. Never wet it. 
The grit, bone and meat can be had at any poultry supply 
house, Swift's or Armour's packing houses. 

For a balanced ration mash for laying hens we use 20 
parts bran, 20 parts wheat, 10 parts barley, 5 parts ground 
bone meal, 20 parts oats, 10 parts corn, 10 parts meat meal, 
5 parts pearl grit. 

Grind the wheat, barley, oats and corn fine and mix all 



14 

ingredients thoroughly together. Your fowls will lay well 
and the eggs will be fertile and hatch well. Feed once a day, 
evening preferred. Feed oats, wheat or cracked corn alter- 
nately at night. 

FORMULAS FOR DIFFERENT MASHES 

A good dry niash for chicks is composed of: 

1 part by weight wheat middlings. 
1 part by weight cornmeal. 
1 part by weight beef scrap. 




ROSE COMB BUFF ORPINGTON 

2 parts by weight wheat bran. 

A good scratching feed for chicks' is composed of: 

1 part by weight oatmeal. 

2 parts by w r eight cracked corn (fine). 

3 parts by weight cracked wheat. 

The dry mash should be kept before the chicks at all times 
and the grain feed be given them several times a day in litter 
at first and then less often until they are fed two or three 
times a day. See that they have plenty of green vegetable 
food, fine grit, charcoal and fresh water at all times. 

A good dry mash feed for laying hens and growing pullets 
is composed of: 



15 

25 lbs. oil meal. 

125 lbs*, beef scrap. 

150 lbs. wheat middlings. 

DRY MASH FORMULA. 

Cut alfalfa 20 lbs. 
Wheat bran 20 lbs. 
Corn meal 10 lbs. 
Gluten feed 10 lbs. 
Ground oats 10 lbs. 
Wheat middlings 10 lbs. 

Beef scraps 10 lbs. 

SCRATCH GRAIN FORMULA. 

Sound corn, whole and cracked 40 lbs. 

Whole wheat 20 lbs. 

Oats, heavy white, clipped 12 lbs. 

Barley, best heavy 10 lbs. 

Kaffir corn 8 lbs. 

Buckwheat, silver 8 lbs'. 

Sunflower seed 2 lbs. 

Mix and feed in deep litter twice daily. Watch appetites 
of birds and cut down amount if they do not work for it. 
A good grain mixture for hens is made by taking ' 

1 part by weight oats. 

2 parts by weight corn. 
2 parts by weight wheat. 

Feed in the same manner as recommended for chicks. 
See that they have fresh water, grit, oyster shell and charcoal 
before them at all times. 

FINE FEED FOR BABY CHICKS. 

30 parts wheat; 20 parts millet; 20 parts corn; 10 parts 
barley; 5 parts steel cut oats; 5 parts granulated meat meal; 
5 parts granulated bone; 5 parts pearl grit. 

Above cracked and by weight. Feed dry, do not wet it. 
Give plenty of good fresh water at all times. 

A MASH FOR LAYING HENS. 

100 lbs. bran, 100 lbs. shorts, 100 lbs. corn meal, 50 lbs, cut 
alfalfa or alfalfa meal, cut preferred, 25 lbs. meat meal, 10 lbs, 
bone meal. Mix in a crumbly mash and feed in morning. 
Throw a little small grain in litter at noon and feed corn or 
wheat at night. 

Avoid feeding any sloppy foods, a variety of grains cracked 



16 

is the natural feed for chickens. Some say never feed corn, 
we differ in this nonsensical claim as we have always raised 
as good chicks as any one dare raise and we always feed corn. 
You can't hurt a growing chick feeding corn. It will hurt a 
grown hen as she will get so fat she will not lay, but corn is a 
good feed for chicks, when mixed with other grains, there is 
no better grown. 

Be careful in feeding linseed meal, recommended in some 
rations. We believe the ration is just as £ood or better with- 




S1LVER LACED WYANDOTTES 

out it. Linseed meal often causes indigestion and diarrhoea 

and predisposes to serious intestinal and liver troubles if fed 

too freely. 

FORMULA FOR DRY MASH. 

Wheat bran 50 lbs. 
Ground oats 50 lbs\ 
Corn meal 50 lbs. 



17 

Wheat middlings 50 lbs. 
Beef scraps 50 lbs. 
Linseed meal 30 lbs. 
Shredded alfalfa 30 lbs. 
Salt 2 lbs. 
Wood ashes 2 lbs. 

The ingredients are dumped upon a smooth floor and the 
whole is thoroughly mixed with a scoop, and stored away to 
be used as needed. This formula is for winter feeding where 
the birds have no green food other than the alfalfa in the 
mash. If the hens have grass range or are fed sprouted oats, 
the alfalfa should be omitted from the mash. 

In warm weather if the birds have free range or large 
yards, they will also get considerable meat food in the form 
of bugs and worms, and the beef scraps may be lessened 
accordingly. But I am writing on "Proper Food for Laying 
Hens in Winter," and simply mention these things so anyone 
will not get disastrous results by feeding this mash through 
warm weather. 

VALUABLE TABLES. . 
60 drops equal 1 teaspoonful. 
4 teaspoonfuls equals 1 tablespoonful. 
8 teaspoonfuls equal 1 ounce. 
4 ounces equal 1 gill. 
4 gills equal 1 pint. 

2 pints equal 1 quart. 

4 quarts egual one gallon. 

3 gallons (about) equal 1 pailful. 

A 1 per cent solution, or 1 part to 100, is made as follows: 
y 2 teaspoonful to 1 tumbler of water. 

1 teaspoonful to 1 pint of water. 
10 teaspoonfuls to 1 gallon of water. 
V2 tumbler to 1 pail of water. 

1 tumbler to 6 gallons of water. 

1 pint to 12 gallons of water. 

EGG-LAYING FORMULA. 

Sulphate of Soda 1 lb. 

Flaxseed meal 2 lbs. 

Sulphur y% lb. 

Cayenne pepper % lb. 



18 

Pine salt 1 lb. 

Charcoal .' 34 lb. 

Powdered bone 2 lbs. 

Ginger y 2 lb. 

Mustard 14 lb. 

One teaspoonful in warm mash — 15 to 20 hens. 

LICE FORMULAS. 
No. 1. 

Bisulphide of Carbon 4 ounces 

Carbolic acid 4 ounces 

Creoline 2 ounces 

Creosote crude y 2 ounce 

Coal oil 1 gallon 

Thoroughly mix all together and paint on roosts and drop 
boards just before chickens go to roost. Keep well corked in 
stone jugs or tile vessel. 

No. 2. 

Dissolve in kerosene all it will take up of crude naphtha- 
lene flakes. One gallon of kerosene will take up about one 
pound of the naphthalene flakes. To this solution add half a 
pint of cresol and thoroughly mix. Use on roosts. 



The best insect powder we know of and the most lasting 
in effect as well as the most expensive at first cost, though 
not in the long run, is strictly pure freshly ground Persian 
Pyrethrum flower heads. Good goods well applied have an 
effect that lasts for months. 

CHEAP AND EFFECTIVE SOLUTION FOR 
EXTERMINATING MITES. 

Put 15 gallons of water in a boiler and heat it to a boiling 
point and then add 10 lbs. common salt and let it dissolve, 
making a very strong brine and then add to it one ounce of 
OIL SASSAFRAS and stir well, and then it is ready for use. 
Remove everything loose in the hen house that can be remov- 
ed and take the hot solution and wet every particle of the 
wood work in the house, including nest boxes and roosts. 
Put it on hot with a spray pump or whitewash brush. Be 
sure to get it in all the cracks and crevasses— there is where 



19 

the mites stay during the day. Be thorough with your work 
and you will never have any more mites. If the house is 
very bad go over it twice. 



SPRAYING SOLUTIONS 



The sulphur solution is made by heating sulphur and lime 
together. It is very disagreeable to make unless one is using 
a large amount, it is better to procure it from a dealer. 

The best solution is: 




DARK BRAHMAS 

1 gallon coal oil. 

V 2 pint crude carbolic acid. 

2 ounces oil of cassia. 

If spraying is well done this will exterminate all mites and 
lice; will also leave the house smelling sweet and clean. 



20 

CHEAPEST AND MOST EFFECTIVE DUSTING POWDER 
FOR LARGE FLOCKS AND GENERAL USE. 

Air slacked lime 20 lbs. 

Flour of sulphur 4 lbs. 

Tobacco dust l^ lbs. 

Naphthalene (Crystalized Powdered) 1 lb. 

Mix all thoroughly together and when ready for use add a 
few drops of Oil of Pennyroyal and a few drops of Carbolic 
acid. When wanted for dust boxes omit Oil of Pennyroyal 
and Carbolic acid, add bran and shorts in sufficient quantity 
to attract the birds to the boxes to s'cratch. 

SOME GOOD CONDITION POWDERS 

The following formula is one of the best we have ever used 

for the building up of a flock of fowls or chicks where combs 
look pale and feathers are rough and fowls are lazy. Take 

1 oz. carbonate of iron, 1 oz. pulverized gentian root, 1 oz. 
black antimony, 1 oz. sulphur, 1 oz. mandrake root, 1 oz. 
ginger, 3 oz. carbonate of soda, 4 oz. flaxseed meal, 2 oz. pul- 
verized charcoal. Mix well and feed an even teaspoonful in 
each quart of feed. 

The following formula is especially adapted to use when 
fowls have had bad distemper, roup, or any disease where the 
blood wants a thorough cleansing and purifying, and alone 
is worth any price one could ask to any breeder of fowls: 

y 2 lb. charcoal, y 2 lb. ginger, y 2 lb. gentian root, y 2 lb. 
golden seal, y 2 lb. sulphur, y 2 lb. May apple, y 2 lb. copperas. 

Mix well. Feed one level teaspoonful in each quart of feed 
twice a day for one week. Skip a week and feed again as 
before. 

FORMULA FOR WHITEWASH 

Following is the formula used by the United States Gov- 
ernment when applying whitewash to public buildings in 
Washington and elsewhere: 

Take y 2 bushel of unslacked lime, slack it with boiling 
water, cover during the process to keep in steam, strain the 
liquid through fine sieve or strainer and add to it a peck of 
salt, previously dissolved in warm water; 3 lbs. of rice boiled 
to a thin paste and stirred in while hot, y 2 lb. Spanish whiting 



21 

and 1 lb. of glue previously dissolved by soaking in cold 
water and then hanging over the fire in a small pot hung in a 
larger one filled with water. Add 5 gallons of hot water to 
the mixture, stir well and let stand a few days covered from 
dirt. It should be applied hot, for which purpose it can be 
kept in a portable furnace. A pint of the mixture, if properly 
applied, will cover a square yard and will be almost as ser- 
viceable as paint for wood, brick or stone, and is much cheap- 
er than the cheapest paint. 



VALUABLE HINTS 



In breeding for fine chicks a two year old cock and a year- 
ling hen will bring you the best results. 




COCHINS 

To produce mostly pullets and few cockrels, mate a cock 
bird to all the hens he can possibly attend, say from 20 to 25 
females, and to have mostly cockrels, mate a cockrel with 5 or 
6 hens. 

The more times you turn your eggs in your incubator the 
better they will hatch and the less cripples you will have. 

Fall hatched pullets will begin laying in summer and fall 
when spring hatched pullets are shedding and getting ready 



22 

to lay. H you want eggs all the year round hatch them all 
the year round. 

Don't go wild over the different systems that are being 
sold to thousands of people for $1 or more as your mother's 
system of raising chicks was just as good as theirs; good feed 
and good care will raise good chicks without a system. 

There is as much in the feed as there is in the breed. 

Over-feeding is not feeding well, better have your hens 
hungry. 

5 lbs. of linseed meal or oil meal in 200 lbs. of mixed grain 
fed in mash is very beneficial to laying stock and moulting 
fowls. 

Animal food is very beneficial to laying hens and growing 
chicks, but too much is worse than none at all. 

A proper amount of salt aids digestion and avoids roup, 
canker and gizzard worms. One ounce of salt in soft mash 
for 100 hens. 

Oyster shells are too soft for grits. Good grit is hard and 
sharp. 

Oyster shells fed as grit have caused lots of failures. 

Laying hens must-have lime, mix up sand and lime as you 
would for mortar and let it dry out and then break it up in 
chuncks and place about in yards and see the hens visit those 
chunks every morning. It will convince you. 

Clover or alfalfa hay steamed is a good substitute for 
green feed in winter. Cabbage, turnips, beets and mangles 
are also relished. 

Keep the hoppers well filled with a good dry mash. 

How about oyster shells, granulated raw bone, charcoal 
and grit? Are the boxes full? Fill 'em up. 

Don't set hens in the laying pen unless you want to get 
'em all broody. The habit is "contagious" and spreads rapidly. 

Keep your eys peeled for feather pullers. They are par- 
ticularly in season now. Plenty of sprouted oats and other 
green stuff with a well-seasoned salt codfish hung up for the 
birds to pick at makes a good preventive. 

Keep a record of the flocks. Do regular and systematic 
poultry bookkeeping. Don't leave it to guess work. Find out 
what they cost and what they pay, how many eggs they pro- 
duce, what they sell for, and whether or not you are making 



23 

the profit you should. Right now is the time to begin. 

Gather the eggs often whether you intend them hatching 
or for market. Don't use hen eggs for nest eggs'. It is bad 
business and breeds trouble with the fresh egg customers, 
when a bad egg gets mixed with the good ones. China nest 
eggs are cheap. They won't make hens lay, but they help 
make a nest popular and often prevent egg eating. 

If the hens don't get broody often enough to suit you this 
season try putting china nest eggs in the nest in place of the 




LANGSHANS 



eggs you take out, until you have a good nest full. You will 
soon find some good fat hens getting interested in becoming 
broody. Try it. Likewise, eggs gathered often and bare 
nests usually means less broody hens. 

When sitting hens are scarce and you have an idle incu- 
bator, with not enough eggs to fill it, start the eggs in the 
machine. Test them out at the end of the week and give the 
fertile eggs to brood hens to hatch. The hens will be glad to 
get chicks in two weeks, you have saved time and the process 



24 . 

can be repeated until you have eggs enough to keep the incu- 
bator busy through a full hatch. 

Also eggs that are saved up for hatching purposes — should 
be turned over once a day — otherwise the contents will settle 
to one side of the egg and when put into the incubator it will 
be found that many of the germs begin to dedvelop sticking 
fast to the egg shell. To jar it loose afterwards is to kill it. 

Don't expect to get hatchable eggs from fowls that are fat 
— or from flocks that have recently had disease — such as roup, 
cholera, gapes or the like. 

Neither will starved hens lay good eggs — nor will flocks 
that have been kept in close confinement for any length of 
time produce hatchable eggs. 

From this you will see the necessity of getting your eggs 
for hatching from flocks that have good range, i. e.: lots of 
room in which to run about — and that neither fat nor starved. 

Also the male birds, or roosters, must be in good health, 
have bright red combs, not clumsy or fat, and have plenty of 
life. The rooster is half of the flock when it comes to getting 
good hatchable eggs. 

Also the feed of the laying hens has a good deal to do with 
the eggs. 

Hens that have been fed but one kind of food, such as 
corn or wheat, will not lay good eggs. They must have a 
variety of food and good pure water to drink, and live in good 
clean, healthful quarters, and be free from lice, mites and 
other vermin. 

It takes no more labor or expense in the long run to keep 
the egg producing flocks up to where they should be than it 
does to allow them to shift for themselves. 

Also remember that the egg producing flocks must be fed 
with a proper ration of animal food, such as cooked lean meat 
scraps and green cut bone. 

In the summer time, when the flocks have a large range, 
they get all kinds of green foods, bugs, insects, etc., all of 
which are necessary for their well-being. And during the 
winter, if the efficiency of the flock is to be retained as good 
egg producers, these elements of green and animal food must 
be supplied. 

Cabbage, cut clover or alfalfa hay (scalded) and once in a 



25 

while boiled potatoes' will supply the elements obtained by 
the fowls during the summer in the green foods — while cut 
green bone (the green bones you can get from the butcher 
shop, or it may be bought "ready cut") will take the place of 
the insects, bugs, etc., which the fowls pick in the summer. 

Also remember that grit in the shape of sand and lime or 
glass or old pieces of crockery finely broken must be kept 
before the fowls at all times. 

The man who keeps things clean generally makes more 
money than the man who "cleans up." Which class are you 
in neighbor? 




ROSE COMB RHODE ISLAND REDS 

Keep the early chicks comfortable, happy, contented, clean 
and well kept. 

Well made outdoor brooders can be safely run under 
shelters having entirely open fronts', no matter if it is zero 
weather. Keep the space under the hover warm enough to 
drive the chicks to the outside edge and part out from under 
the felts. This is a better guide than the thermometer. You 
can't measure comfort with a thermometer, and comfort for 
the chicks is necessary to success. 

Hatch as* many chicks this season as you can feed and take 
proper care of, and no more. That is a pretty good rule to 
follow. 

If you have rye or wheat growing this winter in your 
unused poultry yards try sowing in it a good clover seed 



26 

mixture as soon as the ground begins to thaw. So sown it 
usually catches well and will yield a good feeding crop for the 
fowls and chicks after the rye or wheat is cut. 

Feed whole and cracked corn freely during the cold snaps. 
In feeding always try to cater to the appetites of the birds. 

Use only strong, lusty, lull-grown healthy birds in the 
breeding pens. 

HEN THAT PAYS HER BOARD. 

The sprightly hen that is 'always off the roost early in the 
morning and on hand with a fresh egg as soon as she eats her 
breakfast and then goes directly to work scratching about and 




PLYMOUTH ROCKS 

does not hover about the nest or hunt for sunny spots to nap 
in, is usually the hen which pays for her board bill with 
interest at the end of the year. 

VALUE OF CHARCOAL. 

The value of charcoal for poultry is best ascertained by 
allowing them constant access to it. Wet, filthy or old char- 
coal is not desirable. Do not expect fowls to eat charcoal, 
grit and shells the way they eat corn. Do not force it on 
them, but rather have it in convenient reach of the poultry 
and they will eat as much as they need or is good for them. 



27 

SELL SURPLUS STOCK. 

Surplus stock snould be converted into cash at the earliest 
profitable opportunity. Money talks, but it doesn't eat its 
head off or die of cholera or roup or some other ailment preva- 
lent among fowls. 

The first warm day clean and thoroughly scrape the drop- 
boards and get rid of all frozen droppings. Scatter sand loam, 
land plaster or clean sand over the cleaned boards, and kero- 
sene the roosts and all cracks. In warmer climates, clean up 




BLACK SPANISH 



lice killers freely to 
These pests get busy 



thoroughly and use disinfectants and 
prevent mites and fleas fiom breeding, 
early in a genial climate. 

Empty water pails at night. If neglected and they do 
freeze up solid set them in cold water or pour cold water over 



28 

outside and bottom to free the ice. It works 1 better than 
pounding and saves the pails. 

Watch out for frosted or frozen combs and wattles, espe- 
cially in birds that are allowed to run out of doors from closed 
houses. The first pale or blue tipped comb you see, get busy. 
Rub first with snow or cold water. 

Inspect every hen with a limp or which has a bare back 
and be sure to blunt the cock's toe nails, especially if he is a 
heavy bird. A torn back may put a good hen out of breeding 
condition for the balance of the season. Now is the time to 
prevent it. 



A FEW DONTS 



DON'T feed on wet boards or ground. 
" feed mouldy or damaged grain. 
" market soiled or doubtful eggs. 

breed from pullets' or deformed birds. 

expose fowls to storms or intense heat. 
14 be lazy and allow lice and filth. 

allow turkeys, ducks and gees to run with poultry. 

forget that putrid animal matter causes limber neck. 
" shake eggs intended for hatching. 
" make the same mistake twice. 

allow young and old stock to run together. 

over-fatten your stock; ; keep them busy. 

winter more stock than you can properly manage. 

crowd your fowls and invite disease. 

feed for twelve hours before killing. 

expect wonders at once — persevere. 

keep hens over two years old. 
" be without a scratching shed. 

winter drones — market at once. 

forget that hen comfort means dollars. 

PREVENTION OF DISEASE. 

That "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is 
a saying that has proven its truth for years of demonstration. 
Most of the diseases of poultry can be traced to carelessness 
or to unsanitary and dirty quarters, while the nature of the 



29 

housing, feeding, etc., must be given due attention, cleanliness 
is of paramount importance. 

Disease germs are found wherever filth abounds. 

Never mind the identity or name of the germ or germs 
which cause white diarrhoea. You can safely leave that to 
the experiment stations. What concerns you is that the 
germs are found both in and on the eggs and in the ovaries of 
the infected hens. Remember that, the breeding stock is the 
starting point of the trouble. You can't afford to breed dis- 




HOUDANS 

ease. Isn't a little effort that will prevent so much trouble 
worth while to you? Sure it is. 



A YOLKLESS EGG. 

It is impossible to give a satisfactory explanation of this 
phenomenon without making a careful post-mortem examina- 
tion of the reproductive organs of the fowl. Even such an 
examination might not lead to any very conclusive results. 
In order to understand how the phenomenon may have occur- 



30 

red it is necessary to know the process through which the egg 
passes before its final extrusion, and this is rather a compli- 
cated and technical subject to deal with. Briefly, I may 
explain thai various parts of which the egg is composed are 
produced separately in various regions of the oviduct in the 
course of its passage. On reaching the commencement of the 
oviduct the ovulum (commonly known as the yolk) comes in 
contact with the mucous membrane which lines this part of 
the canal, and is covered with successive layers of albumen. 
During this process the yolk keeps revolving, and a portion of 
the albumen congeals and forms a very fine membrane, which 
is gathered into two delicate spiral cords, by which the yolk is 
retained in position after the egg is complete. The egg pro- 
ceeds towards the extremity of the oviduct, where the albumen 
is enclosed in the stout membrane which separates it from 
the shell, and finally it is covered with minute particles of 
carbonate casing. In the case of yolkless eggs the assump- 
tion is that owing to some defect in the ovarium no yolk is 
produced in response to the natural stimulus, but that the 
stimulus does operate upon the other organs, which accord- 
ingly respond and proceed with their natural functions, just 
as if a yolk were actually present. The membrane which 
retains the yolk in position would have the effect of preserv- 
ing a cavity in the albumen where the yolk should have been, 
and hence the circular hollow. 

In domesticated fowls the occurrence of eggs without yolks, 
and double shells, are not very rare, but they are distinctly 
uncommon amongst wild birds. 

REAL HEN FEVER. 

We have it from eminent breeders that today they are 
greater chicken cranks than ever. If a man or woman once 
has the hen fever, he always has it. There is no inoculation 
against it. If one says that once upon a time he had the hen 
fever but got over it, it is sure that he never had it. Ticks 
cannot stick tighter than hen fever of the right brand. 

Beginning with the man or woman who goes to the show 
in the small village for the first time, we can see that he 
catches the fever in a sort of way when decided that his 
scrubs must go and that the pure bred fowls of his heart will 



31 

take their place. He buys a few hens and a male and the 
coming season shows some of his birds at the local show to 
prove to his neighbors that he has good chickens. When he 
finds that some of the other boys who exhibit have better 
ones than he, then does he buy a Standard, join the local 
association, send away for a few sittings of eggs and try to 
beat his competitors. It takes from three to five years for 
him to beat the home boys and then he has the edge down to 
so fine a point that he wants to send a few of his birds to the 




SILVER SPANGLE HAMBURGS 



state show and get into hotter company just to see how much 
better others are than his. 

When his birds come from the state show and he gets a 
place or two in the line of winners his joy knows no bounds. 
Then it is up to him to go again after the coveted ribbons and 
he works for a year, perfecting his line up, only at the last 
moment to decide that it is not as good as it should be, but 
he ships to the big show anyhow. He is a sportsman true 
and blue and cannot help it. He feels the call of the ribbons 
and the honest sport and goes into the fight for the fun and 



32 • 

spirit he gets out of it. With him it is a game that he plays 
outside of his work. It is a thing that takes his mind off 
business and too close application to one thing. We have 
heard that the man who goes into a hobby deeply is one who- 
takes his life work seriously and does it well. 

Hen fever never leaves one if they really get it. It sticks 
for life. Nothing removes it. If you have it, humor it. It 
runs smoothest when one pets it a bit. Even if you cannot 
have the big farm and the large ideas all worked out, you can 
have as much fun out of it and as much sport as anyone. 

—Contributed. 



THE DISEASES OF POULTRY 



APOPLEXY 

This disease almost solely attacks birds that are over-fed* 
and these are most subject to it during hot weather or when 
they are excited. An attack is usually fatal at once, but 
where the bird is evidently not dead it should be immediately^ 
bled by cutting the vein nearest the bone under one of ita 
wings. A good aperient should also be administered, such aa 
eighteen grains of jalap mixed with three grains of calomel, 
or a small spoonful of Epson salts mixed with a wineglass 
full of warm water. The bird must be kept quiet and fed 
sparingly on non-stimulating food for some days. 

Sometimes signs of an approaching attack can be observed* 
the bird having a staggering, unsteady gait, similar to that of 
an intoxicated person. In such a case it should at once be 
given one of the aperients before mentioned, and be placed in 
a cool quiet run by itself. Where one bird is attacked with 
this complaint, it is needful to see if the whole poultry yard 
is not being over-fed. If so, their diet should be lowered, and 
they should be given an abundance of green food. 

BLACK ROT 

(See Comb Diseases.) 

BUMBLE FOOT 

Dorkings are especially subject to this ailment. It con- 
sists, as its name implies, of a gathering at the bottom of the 
foot. Paint the part affected with lunar caustic, or, if the ' 



33 

foot is very bad, apply linseed poultices to it daily until the 
gathering is ripe, then lance it with a sharp knife, and take 
out all the matter. The patient should not he allowed to 
roost on the perch at night, but should be bedded on straw 
till the foot is quite healed. The poulticing should be con- 
tinued for a few days after the lancing, and if a little vaseline 
is applied to the spot it will soothe it. 
CHOLERA 

Poultry yards today are plagued with more than one dis- 
ease that was altogether unknown to our grandfathers, and 
the most dreaded of these is undoubtedly chicken cholera. 
It makes its appearance in the yard, often no one knows how, 
and in a few weeks destroys the greater number of the birds. 




BLACK MINORCAS 

Preventative measures often seem absolutely useless, and in 
spite of everything that he can do, the owner sees his best 
TDirds carried off, one after another. 

The usual causes of cholera are lack of stamina in the 
birds, overcrowding, uncleanliness, lack of green food, and 
absence of shelter from the rays of the hot sun. Drinking 
stale tepid water, and eating decayed vegetable matter are 
also frequently to blame for its origin. There can be no 
doubt but that is highly contageous, and one sick bird will 
pass the disease on to a whole yard. 



34 

When a bird is first attacked it loses its appetite looka 
Thoroughly out of condition, its feathers are ruffled, and its' 
eyes sunken and lacking lustre. What food it does take it 
seems unable- to assimilate, but eagerly consumes a large 
amount of water. It has diarhoea, and at first the excrement 
is green and slimy, but afterwards it becomes whitish and 
frothy, and sometimes specks of blood are found in it. The 
bird becomes more and more sleepy and disinclined for exer- 
tion, and at last it sinks down and dies. Occasionally con- 
vulsions immediately precedes death. 

Practically there is no cure for this disease, for it runs its": 
course so rapidly, and affects the intestines so much; that 
before preventative measures can have time to take effect 
the bird is dead. The fowl usually dies within thirty-six; 
hours after the symptoms appear, though sometimes it lingers 
for several days. Post-mortem examinations show the liver 
to be swollen, congested with dark blood, and in such a state 
as not to bear handling, the spleen also is swollen, the intes- 
tines inflamed, and various other parts of the body affected.. 

More than one form of this disease attacks domestic pour- 
try. Thus in 1888 a complaint broke out in a poultry farm 
near London, where between four and live hundred fowls were 
kept on a couple of acres of ground. In twelve months about 
four hundred birds died, in spite of every effort that was, 
made to stamp out the epidemic. During the first two months 
the number of deaths was two hundred. Dr. Klein, who care- 
fully investigated the disease, declared that though it bore a 
superficial resemblance* to cholera it was entirely different.. 
The bacilli found in the blood were, he said, longer and of a 
different kind from those found in cases of chicken cholera. 
But tne two complaints have very much in common, as will 
be seen by the accompanying description of the symptoms,, 
and they both require the same system of treatment. 

"Till twenty-four to thirty-six hours before death the fowls 
appear perfectly right," wrote Dr. Klein, in The Field. "The 
first indication of the disease is diarrhorea of thin, yellow, 
frequently fluid, evacuations; the birds are quiet, but are 
never somnolent, which symptom is so characteristic of fowl 
cholora, On the next morning, or latest the day following,, 
the animals are found dead. On post-mortem examination the- 



35 

heart contains clotted blood (this is the case already a half to 
one hour after death,) the liver is somewhat enlarged, soft, 
and brittle; usually the spleen is enlarged to twice its normal 
size or more, and is soft and flaccid; its substance is more or 
less dry. The serous covering of the intestines, and particu- 
larly the mucous membrane lining the coecal appendages, is 
hyperoemic. The cavity of the rectum contains yellow fluid 
foecal matter. Hens are more susceptible to the disease than 
cocks." 

In this case all curative measures were found practically 




WHITE LEGHORNS 

unavailing, and a few months afterwards the owner was 
obliged to move his stock to fresh ground. 

Scientists have traced the cause of the complaint to bacilli 
present in the blood, and attempts have been made to prevent 
it by vaccination. Pasteur, the celebrated French chemist,, 
investigated the matter, and he gives the following account 
of some experiments he made with vaccine matter he had 
prepared: 

* "I take eighty fresh chickens which have never had the- 
cholera either naturally produced or communicated artificial- 
ly. Twenty of these I innoculate with the poison in a very 
virulent state — they all die. Of the remaining sixty, I take 
another twenty and inonculate them with a single puncture, 



36 

and with the weakest poison I have been able to get — not one 
of them dies. Are they, then proof against the virulent 
poison? Only a certain number of them are so. As a matter 
of fact, if I innoculate these twenty with the virulent poison, 
about eight or ten of them, though they become ill, do not die; 
far different to the other twenty fresh ones, every one of 
which dies. 

"Again I take another twenty from the original lot and 
vaccinate them with two punctures, the second made seven or 
eight days after the first. Does this vaccination make them 
proof against the virulent poison? To try, I innoculate them 
with it. This time, in distinction to the second experiment, 
under which six or eight recovered, twelve or fifteen lived. 
Lastly, if I take the remaining twenty and innoculate them 
with the reduced poison, not once but three or four times, 
though afterwards innoculated with the virulent poison, not 
one will die. In this latter case the birds are brought to a 
state of inaptitude to take chicken cholera." 

But at present the disease is not common enough in this 
country for vaccination to be generally practiced, and the 
chief means we must rely upon for fighting it are preventa- 
tive measures. If fowls are kept on fresh ground, are not 
overcrowded, and are properly cared for, there is not much 
fear of their being attacked. Should a bird become ill strict 
repressive measures must at once be taken. Every fowl in 
the slightest degree affected must immediately be put right 
away from the others. The water which the healthy birds 
drink should have a piece of camphor placed in it. All the 
excrement must be gathered up, and the house and run have 
quicklime, or some other good disinfectant scattered over 
them. The inside of the house should be cleaned with special 
care, and various appliances washed with fresh lime-water in 
which is mixed carbolic or sulphuric acid or some similar 
compound. 

Whatever is done towards curing the sick birds must be 
done on the first appearance of the disease, for in a few hours 
it makes such progress as to render successful treatment 
impossible. The following recipe, given in the American 
Poultry World is taken from a treatis on the subject by Dr. 



37 

Dickie: "Fowls that are too sick to eat should have every 
four or five hours a pill made as follows: 

Blue mass 60 gr,. 

Pulverized camphor . ;•. 25 gr. 

Cayenne pepper 30 gr. 

Pulverized rhubarb 48 gr. 

Laudenum 60 drops 

"Mix and make into twenty pills. When they have had 
time to act, give half teaspoonful castor oil and ten drops of 
laudenum to each. This treatment ought to change the char- 
acter of the evacuations and make them darker and more 




BLACK HAMBURGS 



solid. When this happens and not before give them alumn 
water or strong white-oak bark tea to drink, and no other 
drink. This will tend to check the discharges." 

But the best remedy, "the hatchet cure," i. e., chopping off 
the head of the sick bird. Great care must be taken not to 
spread the complaint by going immediately from the sick fowl 
among the healthy stock, or by earring anything from one to 
the other. When the bird dies its body must be placed where 
none of the others can ever get near it; the best thing to do 
with it is to burn it. 



38 
COMB DISEASES 

There are two forms of comb diseases, one of which Black 
Rot, commonly attacks Spanish; whi,le the other, White 
Comb, is most frequently found among Cochins. In Black Rot 
the comb of the bird turns a black color, the fowl becomes 
weak, it gradually pines away, and at last it dies. The com- 
plaint is caused by derangement of the liver. For treatment, 
give the bird a dose of Epsom salts, and feed it chiefly on soft 
food. It must have plenty of green stuff, especially common 
dandelion. 

White Comb may be detected by small white spots coming 
on the comb; these gradually extend down the neck, causing 
the feathers to come off. The bird may be treated the same 
as for Black Rot. A very old and efficient mixture for out- 
ward application on the parts attacked is made of two parts — 
by weight — of turmeric, combined with one part of cocoanut 
oil. 

CRAMP 

Cramp is brought on by exposure to the wet, and it can be 
prevented by giving the fowls better shelter. When the birds 
are attacked the simplest remedy is to rub their legs with 
liniment, and to make their food a little more stimulating. 
In sever cases, the fowls should be bedded on straw or on peat 
moss, and not allowed to roo'st. 

Chickens are very subject to cramp, especially during the 
cold, wet spring months. Sometimes this is caused by the 
wet, and sometimes also by the chickens having to run over a 
hard wooden or stone floor. This seems to prevent the blood 
from flowing freely through their legs, and so brings on the 
cramps. If the boards or stones are covered with a layer of 
straw, peat moss, fine earth, or any loose substance, the 
chickens can then run over them without taking any harm. 
When chickens are attacked with cramp treat them much the 
same as adult fowls. Keep them in a dry, covered run, rub 
their legs with a liniment. If any chicken is very bad, it will 
be found advisable to bring it into the house, and to place it in 
a basket lined with flannel in front of the fire for a day or 
two. When it is better care must be taken not to expose it to 
the cold air too suddenly. 



39 

^ROP-BOUND 

It is no uncommon thing for the crops of fowls to become 
so full of food or some other substance that they cannot 
assimilate it. The consequence is that the fowl is unable to 
swallow anything and naturally it pines away. The causes of 
crop-binding are various. Frequently the fowl swallows some 
foreign substance, such as a piece of bacon rind, a lump of 
matted grass, or some similar article. It manages to get this 
as far as its crop, but there the thing sticks, and refuses to go 
any farther, blocking up the passage to the stomach, and 
finally preventing the bird from swallowing anything else. 
Again, a fowl will at times gorge itself with a quantity of dry 
food, until its* crop becomes unduly distended. Then the bird 




ANDALUSIANS 

•goes and has. a drink; this causes the food to swell, the crop 
becomes yet more distended, and loses its power of eiacticity. 
In order to cure the bird, its crop must be emptied. To do 
this, first pour a little warm water down its throat, and 
gently knead the crop with the hand for a few minutes. 
Leave the bird for about an hour, and then repeat the opera- 
tion. This time pour a little sweet oil down its throat. If 
this* does not do any good take the bird between the knees 



40 

With its head downwards, and try to force the food in the crop 
into the mouth by pressing the crop downwards, 

If all these measures fail to have an effect after they have 
been repeatedly tried, it will be necessary, as a last resort, to 
cut the crop open and empty it. This should only be done in 
very extreme cases, when everything else has failed. 

There should be two persons to perform the operation, the* 
operator and his assistant. Let the assistant take the bird, 
in his lap, and keep it quite still by holding the base of the- 
two wings with one hand, and the legs with the other. The 
operator will require a very sharp knife, a small article, such 
as the back of a spoon, with which to empty the crop, and 
some triread for sewing it up. All the instruments, and also 
the hands of the operator, must be dipped in diluted carbolic 
lotion. First make a straight cut in the upper part of the 
crop, about an inch in length, and then take out all the con- 
tents of the crop through it. Wash the crop, and sew it up 
again. The thread used for the sewing should be either horse 
nair or cat gut, not any vegetable substance, and the two 
skins must not be sewn together. After the operation the 
bird should be fed very sparingly on soft food only, and for 
the first day it should not have any water. It must not be> 
allowed to have any whole grain for at least a week after- 
wards. 

DIARRHOEA 

Diarrhoea is a complaint that many breeders do not take- 
notice of, but it is weakening, and when signs of it appear the 
matter ought to be attended to. The simplest medicine is- 
powdered chalk. A dose of about 20 grains of compound 
chalk powder morning and night, for a couple or three days, 
ought to affect a cure. If it is preferred, the chalk may be 
mixed with a bird's food. It ought to be fed on boiled rice, 
milk, and other non-stimulating foods. It the chalk does not 
do any good, and the diarrhoea increases in severity, a dose 
or two of sulphate of iron should be given in drinking water. 

EGG-BOUND 

Hens sometimes produce such large eggs that they are 
unable to pass them. When this is the case, the bird goes 
more than once to the nest, and sits there -some. time. Wheni 



41 

it comes off, it walks about with a mopish air. If it is sus- 
pected a hen is egg-bound it should be very quietly caught, 
and felt about the vent. If it is egg-bound, the person hand- 
ling it will be able to feel a hard substance (the egg) there. 
The best remedy is to apply some olive oil up the vent, either 
by means of a syringe or an oil feather. Birds inclined to be 
egg-bound should not be fed on stimulating or fattening foods, 
such as corn. Egg-binding is frequently due to these causes. 




ANCONAS 

EGG-EATING 

This vice is frequently caused by lack of shell forming 
material. In their craving for it, the hens eat their egg shells 
to obtain some, and they soon acquire a liking for the eggs 
themselves. One hen quickly teaches the others, and in a 
short time the habit will spread among all the birds in the 
yard. They soon become so expert they cause every egg to 
disappear as soon as it is laid, without leaving a trace of it 
remaining. Frequently, while a poultry-keeper cannot under- 
stand why his hens do not give him any eggs, the fowls are all 
the time laying well, but they clear up their eggs so quickly 
that he never obtains a sight of them. 

Birds in confined runs, where they have no chance of pick- 
ing up worms or other insects, are the chief offenders, and 
this fact suggests a probable cause and cure. 



42 

In attempting to cure egg-eating hens, the first thing to do^ 
is to give them a liberal supply of shell-forming material. 
This alone will sometimes stop them. If not, a number of 
eggs should be emptied of their contents, and filled with 
mustard; if these are laid about their nests the birds will 
attempt to eat them, under the impression that they are 
genuine eggs. The taste of the hot mustard will teach them a 
lesson, and after a few such attempts hardly a hen will touch. 
an egg again. If a number of rotten eggs are left about the' 
house they affect a cure in the same way, viz: by causing the 
hens to become so disgusted with the taste that they refuse- 
to touch any more of them. 

Egg-eater's nests will often be found useful. These are so 
arranged as to cause the eggs to roll out of reach of the hens 
as soon as they are laid. Their chief drawback is that the 
hens often refuse to lay an egg. There are several special 
makes on the market. 

ELEPHANTIASIS 

(See Scaly Legs.) 

FEATHER-EATING 

This habit is one to which the lighter breeds are more 
adicted than the heavier, and unfortunately the example is 
contageous. If the bird commences it, the others soon follow 
suit. There are many different causes of it. Sometimes it 
is excessive animal food, sometimes lack of it; sometimes 
over-feeding, sometimes thirst. To cure the birds, the first 
thing to be done is to give them a complete change of diet, 
letting them have an abundance of green food. The bird that 
has its feathers picked should have those parts of its body 
that are attacked washed every day with a solution of oreolin^. 
or some similar non-poisonous compound. 

As it is highly probably that lack of occupation at least 
help to make poultry feather-eaters, it will be well to try and: 
find them some occupation. If their house is thickly strewn: 
with straw or peat moss litter, and a handful of corn is every 
now and then thrown among it, the fowls will employ them- 
selves in scratching for the grain; their green food can also- 
be tied up a little way, so that they will have to jump up* 
every time they want to get at it. 



43 

GAPES 

This disease is chiefly confined to chickens, and is due to 
the presence of small worms in the throat. These obstruct 
the air-passage, so that the bird has to continually open its 
mouth and gape in the effort to breath, hence the name of 
the disease. 

There are numerous methods of treating gapes. One com- 
mon way is to take a feather, strip all the down off of it,, 
except a little at the point, dip this point in turpentine, place 




INDIAN GAME 

it down the throat of the chicken, and after giving a twist or 
two round to pull it out. The worms are often extracted from 
the throat with the feather. This plan, however, requires 
care, or else the chicken may be choked. In very mild cases 
it may be sufficient to place a little camphor or a small quan- 
tity of turpentine in the drinking water. Another, and a very 
effective cure, is to cause the chicken to inhale the fumes of 
carbolic acid. When the acid is heated it gives off a quanti- 
ty of fumes. Hold the head of the bird among the fumes so 



44 

that it inhales them, taking care at the same time that they 
are not sufficiently dense to suffocate it. This will very like- 
ly require repeating two or three times in order to thoroughly 
destroy the gape-worms. It is well to dust the chicken house 
and run with fresh lime after a case of gapes has appeared 
there. 

INJURED COMBS AND WATTLES 

To stop the bleeding, put some flour upon the injured 
parts, as it will help coagulate the blood. Let the fowl alone 
for a day or so and then bathe the parts in warm water and 
anoint with vaseline or carbolic salve to heal. 

LEG WEAKNESS 

This complaint is usually found among young cocks of 
heavier breeds, and it is caused either by wrong feeding, too 
rapid growth, or breeding from weakly parents. Give the sick 
bird some bone-meal in its food, add a little tonic to its drink- 
ing water, and let it have a plentiful supply of lime, old mortar, 
and crushed oyster shells. 

LIVER DISEASE 

It is largely caused by in-breeding, and over-stimulation. 
Never breed from birds that are in the slightest degree affect- 
ed with it. Mild cases may sometimes be cured by an abund- 
ance of green food and careful dieting, but where the disease 
has got well hold of the system the best thing to do is to kill 
the bird. 

MOULTING 

Strictly speaking, moulting is not a disease at all, but as 
during the time it is taking place the birds are below par, and 
require extra attention, it will be advisable to treat it here. 
It occurs every autumn, when the fowls throw off their old 
feathers, and new ones grow in their place. As a rule, the 
older the bird is, the later in the year its moult takes place. 
The earlier in the season poultry can get their moult over, the 
better it is for them, and the more chance there is of their 
commencing to lay during, the winter. The two chief points 
to be attended to during moulting time are to keep the birds 
warm and dry, and to feed them more liberally than usual. 



45 

They should have a good supply of fresh meat, and a little 
of some spicy condiment occasionally may be given to them. 
If the new feathers do not come easily, a small quantity of 
flour of sulphur — say a spoonful for half a dozen fowls- 
given two or three times' a week will help them along; a 
tonic will also do the birds good at this time. The old hen- 
wives' plan of putting a rusty iron nail in the drinking water 
is not at all a bad one. Those who want a more elaborate 
preparation can use Douglas mixture, which is made as fol- 
lows: Take one ounce of diluted sulphuric acid and half 
pound of sulphate of iron, dissolve them together, and add 




SEBRIGHT BANTAMS 



two gallons of spring water. The mixture to be added to the 
drinking water in the proportion of one teaspoonful to every 
pint of water. 

PALE YOLKS 

The eggs of some breeds' are naturally of a paler color than 
those of others, but sometimes eggs have an unnatural pale- 
ness that is preventable. This paleness is generally found in 
the eggs of birds that are kept in the confines of runs, and it 
is an indication that the hens are below par. The most com- 
mon cause is the lack of green stuff, and the cure lies in giv- 
ing the hen^an^. abundance* of that article,, r _.^ rrf ,..•_ 



46 

RHEUMATISM 

Rheumatism should be treated in the same manner" as 
cramp. It strongly resembles that disease in outward symp- 
toms, except that in sometimes it is accompanied by swelling 
of the joints, and cramp is not. 

ROUP 

Roup causes more deaths in poultry yards than any other 
disease. The first of its appearance is a simple cold. The 
bird coughs and sneezes, its eyes are red, its plumage is 
somewhat ruffled, and there is a watery discharge from its 
nostrils. At this stage the disease can easily be cured; but 
if it is neglected the symptoms soon become more serious. 
The discharge acquires an offensive smell, and at the same 
time hardens and gathers about the nostrils and throat of the 
bird; the head swells, often to such a degree as to close the 
eyes. The fowl refuses all food and mopes continually. 
Frequently there is a rattling in the throat, and unless pre- 
ventative measures are soon taken the invalid dies. 

As roup is highly contageous it is necessary to remove a 
fowl right away from all the other stock as soon as it shows 
the least sign of it. If this is not done, the healthy birds are 
almost certain to become affected. The invalid should be 
removed to a dry, warm shed, and be given plenty of nour- 
ishing food, to which some pepper has been added. If it 
refuses to eat, as it probably will, some meal must be made 
into little rolls, each slightly smaller than a woman's finger, 
and these should be forced down its throat, two or three times 
a day. Too much food must not be given this way, however, 
or else it will do more harm than good. It is well to remem- 
ber that a sick bird cannot digest so much as a healthy one, 
and if too much food is forced into its crop it will weaken it 
rather than add to its strength. 

In the first stages of the disease the best remedy undoubt- 
edly is a homeopathic tincture of aconite. The dose is one 
minum or one drop of the tincture two or three times a day. 
If the face is swollen it must be washed with marm water, 
in which is mixed a little creoline. It is necessary to be 
careful to dry the face properly after it has been washed, or 
else the bird will catch more cold. Some medicine will also 



47 

^be required. A slight aperient should first be given to lessen 
the feverishness which is always present in roup; a little 
jalap, or half teaspoonful of Epsom salts dissolved in warm 
water will be sufficient. A small piece of camphor should be 
placed in the water that the bird drinks, and also in water 
oi the healthy stock; with the latter it acts as a preventive. 
Therea re innumerable special roup medicines on the market, 
some of which are very good and others simply useless. Un- 
less the breeder knows of some thoroughly effective medicine, 
prepared by a reliable vendor of poultry medicines, he had 
better have one of the recipes given below compounded, and 
use it. Most of, the best medicines for roup contain oil of 
copaida and cayenne pepper; these have been found to be 
among the most effective drugs for curing roupy poultry. The 
following is a recipe that has been largely used, and is of 
-great value: 

Balsam of copaida .1 oz. 

Powdered Licorice % oz. 

Piperine 1 drachm 

mixed together, add about % oz. of magnesia, and make the 
whole inte 60 pills. 

Besides attending to the sick bird, it will be necessary 
to take precautionary measures among the healthy stock to 
prevent the disease from spreading. It has also been re- 
commended to place a little camphor in the drinking water. 
In addition to this their food must be made slightly stimu- 
lating, and their house should be examined in order to discov- 
er if it is at all draughty or damp; if it is, ? ? ? 

SOME ROUP CURES: 

Get some two decimeter tablets of bin-iodide of mercury, 
^and for large birds give two tablets night and morning. Use 
:permangenate of potash or solution No. 5 in drinking water 
"to drink. Only the worst cases will need the bin-iodide of 
mercury. 

Another good roup cure is this: Take 5 drops of carbolic 
acid, 5 grs. of permangenate of potash, 1 oz. of water, put all 
together; give 30 drops of the solution 4 times a day; bathe 
the eyes and head with it; after symptoms disappear give a 
good condition powder in feed. 



48 

For colds take turpentine, coaloil, lard and camphor, equal 
parts'; bathe head two or three times a day. 

Another fine remedy for colds is: 10 grs. quinine sul., 10 
grs. doveri pulv., 5 grs. capsicum, fill No. 3 capsules; give 
1 capsule every four hours. 

If you have a valuable bird and you like to save it if possi- 
ble, and its mouth and throat show signs of canker, take 
Solution No. 5, 1 o|. permangenate of potash, y 2 o|. potash, y z 
oz. phosphate of soda, 1 oz. salt, 4 oz. carbonate of iron. 
Place all in one gallon stone jug and fill with water. Let 
stand until dissolved. Take a little in a stone or earthen cup 
and ten parts, of w r ater. Swab the bird's mouth and throat. 
Inject a little into, his nose. If eyes are bad, wash them with 
it. and two or three applications will cure. Put enough in 
drinking water to turn purple the drink. 

For bad cases of roup use the hatchet* just back of the 
head. 

For running at the nose and colds, sometimes called roup, 
use the Douglas mixture as follows: 1 lb. copperas, 1 o|. 
vitriol, 1 gal. water. Dissolve copperas and add vitriol in one 
gallon stone jug. Use one tablespoonful of this solution in lfr 
quarts of water for the fowls to drink. Shut them in where 
they can't get any other water to drink and they will soon 
recover. Treat the whole flock. This will also cure what 
people call cholera and diarrheoea, but you must be sure 
they get no other water to drink, and at all times feed good, 
sweet grain, as nothing will give your fowls cholera quicker 
than musty grain or dirty water to drink. 
SCALY LEGS: 

Birds whose legs become scaly must be kept in dry runs. 
Every morning their legs should be washed in hot water, 
use a hard brush and plenty of soap, and taking care to- 
scrub them well. After the legs are dried, rub them over 
with sulpher ointment, or with the following preparations 
given by Mr. Alfred Hemsley in "Fowls." 

', . Lard; .... . 2 oz. 

! Arsenic 10 gr. 

Sulphur 2 drachms 

Glycerine % oz. 

Spirits of Camphor 2 drachms 



49 

or hold their legs in coal oil a minute or two will usually 
effect a cure. 

SOFT-SHELLED EGGS: 

Soft-shelled eggs are usually caused by the hens not having 
sufficient materials out of which to make their shells. This 
should be remedied by giving them a plentiful supply of grit, 
kitchen ashes, old mortar, and broken oyster shells. Some- 
times the complaint is' brought on by other causes than lack 
of shell forming materials. Overstimulation, the too rapid 
production of eggs, and inflamation of the egg organs will 
cause it. In such a case the hen shoud be kept quiet, giving 
it a chance to diet, and not letting it have anything in the 
slightest degree stimulating. A week or two of rest from 
laying will go a long way toward making a fowl well. 

Get the right stock and the egg laying strain. Follow the 
instructions in this book, and you will have no difficulty in 
raising hundered dollar hens'. 

YOU WILL NEVER BE SORRY 

For living a pure life. 

For doing your level best. 

For looking before leaping. 

For hearing before judging. 

For being kind to the poor. 

For thinking before speaking. 

For harboring clean thoughts. 

For standing by your principles. 

For stopping your ears to gossip. 

For being generous to an enemy. 

For asking pardon w r hen in error. 

For being square in business dealings. 

For giving an unfortunate .person a lift. 

For promptness in keeping your promises. 

For putting the best construction on the acts of others. 

— Selected. 



ja« 15 iS12 






One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



IAN m 1912 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 849 611 4 



